Archive for movies

So I rambled on yesterday (well early this morning) after watching The Butterfly Effect movie. I was keen to see another movie along the same lines and wanted to watch the sequel, although not a sequel to the first movie’s plot but another story also referencing the butterfly effect.

Well, I should have taken note of the two warning signs. One being it was a sequel, and two it only getting a 4 out of 10 star rating by viewers on IMDB.

What a dissapointment! The plot was very thin, the characters didn’t really have much depth to them, they tried reusing a similar plot ending like the first movie but failed dismally. And they also seemed to try and sensationalise it even more by adding numerous soft-porn like scenes. You’d be better off watching late-night TV on a local channel on a Saturday night after midnight.

So if you’ve seen neither, take my advice – only watch the first – the second will just spoil it for you. And if you enjoy things like chaos theories and the butterfy effect, then make sure you don’t miss the TV series called Fringe – it’s well worth it.

It’s been almost 3 years since the release of the X-Men The Last Stand, the third installment in the series of X-Men movies based on the comic book characters. In a few days time it will be the 1st of May.

In some countries the 1st of May is known as May Day but in South Africa it’s known as Worker’s Day. But I digress – it’s also the international release date for Wolverine, the 4th installment of the X-Men movies where we’ll learn more about Wolverine’s character and past.

I’ve enjoyed the previous three movies so I’m looking forward to watching the fourth. Some may not have realised or know this but not all have been directed by the same person. The fourth is no different, as it’ll be directed by Gavin Hood. Who? I’ll explain in a second.

South Africa is making another name for iteself amongst the celebrities of Hollywood. First it was Charlize Theron who made South Africa proud by appearing in many block-buster movies and winning herself an Oscar for her performance in Monster. Now, Gavin Hood, another South African, former actor from a local TV-series called The Game, the director of the Oscar winning film, Tsotsi and now director of, what I’m sure will also undoubtedly be, another block-buster movie, Wolverine.

Apparently, Hugh Jackman approached Gavin Hood directly for the director’s role of the movie as he was impressed with what Gavin had done with Tsotsi. Gavin’s never directed an action movie so this will be interesting – I know he’ll make us proud!

We’ve all seen it countless times before, an actor gaining access to some top-secret files on a computer with a few clicks, or laptops with real-time, real-life looking rendering and animations or modems with SUPER fast transfer rates! You’ve probably seen it before but I enjoyed seeing the list again so I thought I’d share it.

1. Word processors never display a cursor.

2. You never have to use the spacebar when typing long sentences.

3. All monitors display 2 inch high letters.

4. High-tech computers, such as those used by NASA, the CIA, or some such governmental institution, have easy-to-understand graphical interfaces.

5. Those that don’t will have incredibly powerful text-based command shells that can correctly understand and execute commands typed in plain English.

6. Corollary: You can gain access to any information you want by simply typing “ACCESS ALL OF THE SECRET FILES” on any keyboard.

7. Likewise, you can infect a computer with a destructive virus by simply typing “UPLOAD VIRUS.” Viruses cause temperatures in computers, just like they do in humans. After a while, smoke billows out of disk drives and monitors.

8. All computers are connected. You can access the information on the villain’s desktop computer, even if it’s turned off.

9. Powerful computers beep whenever you press a key or whenever the screen changes. Some computers also slow down the output on the screen so that it doesn’t go faster than you can read. The *really* advanced ones also emulate the sound of a dot-matrix printer as the characters come across the screen.

10. All computer panels have thousands of volts and flash pots just underneath the surface. Malfunctions are indicated by a bright flash, a puff of smoke, a shower of sparks, and an explosion that forces you backward. See #7, above)

11. People typing away on a computer will turn it off without saving the data.

12. A hacker can get into the most sensitive computer in the world before intermission and guess the secret password in two tries.

13. Any PERMISSION DENIED has an OVERRIDE function.

14. Complex calculations and loading of huge amounts of data will be accomplished in under three seconds. In the movies, modems transmit data at two gigabytes per second.

15. When the power plant/missile site/whatever overheats, all the control panels will explode, as will the entire building.

16. If you display a file on the screen and someone deletes the file, it also disappears from the screen. There are no ways to copy a backup file — and there are no undelete utilities.

17. If a disk has got encrypted files, you are automatically asked for a password when you try to access it.

18. No matter what kind of computer disk it is, it’ll be readable by any system you put it into. All application software is usable by all computer platforms.

19. The more high-tech the equipment, the more buttons it has. However, everyone must have been highly trained, because the buttons aren’t labelled.

21. Laptops, for some strange reason, always seem to have amazing real-time video phone capabilities and the performance of a CRAY-MP.

22. Whenever a character looks at a VDU, the image is so bright that it projects itself onto his/her face.

23. Computers never crash during key, high-intensity activities. Humans operating computers never make mistakes under stress.

24. Programs are fiendishly perfect and never have bugs that slow down users.

25. Any photograph can have minute details pulled out of it. You can zoom into any picture as far as you want to. Example: “What’s that fuzzy thing in the corner? I don’t know, let’s check. It’s the murder weapon! Let’s look under the bed for the killers shoes. no, just some comics books (Marvel 1954, very rare). Let’s check the closet shelves…!”

The entertainment industry and LaFontaine family lost a legend yesterday. Movie trailer and commercial voiceover master, Don LaFontaine died yesterday at the age of 68.

He died from complications from pneumothorax, a collapsed lung that causes air to build in the pleural cavity, his agent, Vanessa Gilbert, told Entertainment Tonight. – You can read more about this on CNN.

I’ve always been a fan of his work and think that if it wasn’t for his talents box-office numbers and movie sales would never be near what they are today!

“My philosophy is that you have to really believe what you’re reading, even if you think the film’s a piece of junk,” he told Swindle magazine. “Even the worst picture is someone’s favorite film, and that someone is the fan I am always talking to.”

Last night we rented The Bucket List out on DVD and after watching it made me think how easily we take things for granted. Living our life day after day, stuck in a rut, without much thought for tomorrow, other than whether or not you’ll be able to finish the work you didn’t finish this afternoon or whether or not the bills will be paid this month.

It made me think, maybe a list like that isn’t such a bad idea. Yeah, we all know about the 1000 places to see or the 10 wildest things to do (if you’re a thrill-seeker like I am) before you die, but what about your list? What are the things that you want to do before you “kick the bucket“? I’ve got a few on my list, some I’ve done, others not yet but I think there are still more to add, I just hope I get to do them in time.

I know elsewhere in the world this has been done before, and there are countless videos and articles on the web, but this was a first for South Africa – today we witnessed, televised live, an open heart surgery. And what an eye opener it was. I’ve always been fascinated by medicine and as a high-blood pressure sufferer found that it struck a cord in the back of my mind – look after yourself, before that happens to you!